Gas valve



Sept. 20, 1938' J. H. GRAYSON GAS VALVE Original Filed Nov. 2, 1935 Patented Sept. 20, 1938 PATENT OFFICE GAS VALVE John H. Grayson,

Lynwood, Calif; assignor to Grayson Heat Control, Inc., Lynwood, Calif., a corporation of California Original application November 2, 1935, Serial No.

47,945. Divided and this application May 20,

1936, Serial No. 80,759

Claims.

This invention relates to valves generally and has particular reference to an improved valve construction especially designed for use in a graduating type oven heat regulator to regulate the 5 flow of gas to an oven burner to maintain a predetermined oven temperature.

One of the principal objects of my invention is to provide a valve in which the poppet type valve disk is universally adjustable on its stem by virtue of a ball and socket mounting, whereby to permit the valve to adapt itself to the valve seat instead of relying upon accurate relationship of the valve stem to the seat for accurate parallel closing and opening movements of the valve disk relative to the seat.

Another important object consists in the provision of an annular oil groove around the valve seat to avoid the condition of having lubricant getting on the seat and interfering with accurate temperature regulation.

These andother objects of my invention will be better understood as reference is made in the following detailed description to the accompanying drawing, in which-- Figure 1 is a view partly in side elevation and partly in longitudinal section through a combination gas cook and oven heat regulator embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional detail of the universally adjustable valve mounting.

The same reference numerals are applied to corresponding parts in these views.

This application is a division of my application Serial No. 47,945, filed November 2, 1935.

The present invention has particular reference to the novel construction of the valve indicated generally by the reference numeral 5. This valve regulates the flow of gas from the gas' supply manifold 6 to the pipe 1 extending to the oven burnerof a gas range. .8 is the body of the oven heat regulator of which the valve 5 forms apart. Gas is supplied to the inlet chamber 9 in the body 8 when the rotor I0 is turned relative to the stator H, provided preferably as an integral part of the body 8 and communicating, as indicated at l2, with the gas supply manifold 6. The dial I3 is operatively connected with the rotor ll) of the gas cock and with a control shaft M which extends through the rotor and stator and has a polygonal or faceted end l5 slidably but non-rotatably received in the hole I6 in the center of the valve seat plug H. The latter is threaded in the body 8, as indicated at I8, for axial adjustment by rotation thereof. The extent of adjustment of the plug l1 away from the valve 5, as will soon appear,

determines the oven temperature to be maintained. In other words, the farther the plug 11 is adjusted to the left, the higher will be the oven temperature maintained. Communication is established between the inlet chamber 9 and outlet chamber l9 through the circumferentially spaced holes 20 in the plug I! when the valve 5 is 01? the annularseat 2|, and, of course, the size of the flame on the oven burner depends upon the extent the valve is opened. When the valve is closed, enough gas is by-passed from the chamber 9 to the chamber l9 through the passage 22 to keep the oven burner from being extinguished, the flow through the by-pass passage being regulated by the valve 23. The valve 5, as will soon appear, normally tends to move away from the seat 2| under the action of the coiled compression spring 24, and is moved in the opposite direction by an expansible bellows 25 which expands in accordance with the expansion of the fluid medium contained therein, which medium is subjected to the heat in the oven through a flexible capillary tube 26 extending from the bellows 25 to a bulb located in the oven. The bulb. tube and be!- lows, in other words, form a confining chamber for the thermally responsive medium, and the bellows expands and contracts with the expansion and contraction of the medium so as to operate the valve 5 accordingly. A coiled compression spring 21 bears at one end on a shoulder in the chamber l9 and at the other end on a plate 28 fixed to the movable end of the bellows 25, whereby to return the bellows to its normal contracted size when the fluid medium therein contracts with drop in temperature. The part indicated at 29 as supported on the plate 28 is a compensating thermostat, the function of which is to counteract the effect of extraneous heating of the bellows 25 by the cooking top burners, whereby to avoid objectionable oven temperature drop, as clearly described in the parent application.

It is apparent from the above description that the valve 5 will have a graduating action, that is, it will move closer to the seat 2| to prevent an undesired rise in oven temperature and farther away from the seat to prevent an undesired drop in oven temperature. Accurate parallelism between the valve and seat, needless to say, is im portant if there is to be close control of temperature and also if the regulator is to repeat its performance accurately innumerable times, as required under normal service conditions. The valve construction provided in accordance with my invention, as will now be described, permits the valve disk 30 to adjust itself universally with respect to its stem 3i by virtueof a ball and socket mounting 32--33, so that the disk 30 can adapt itself nicely to the seat 2i instead of being dependent for such accurate relationship upon accurate mounting and guiding of the valve stem 3| with relation to the seat 2!. It will be seen that the stem 3| works in a guide 3d provided by an axial bore in the end of the control shaft M. Now, of course, the shaft M is turned back and forth by means of the dial l3, and there will be a certain amount of relative rotation thereof with respect to the stem 31!. If it were not for the capacity of the valve disk 30 to shift its position with respect to the stem 3! into parallelism with the valve seat, the valve disk would not remain parallel to the seat unless its stem were very accurately guided in relation to the seat. The hemispherical portion 32 of the ball and socket mounting 32--33 provides a flat annular shoulder 35 on the back thereof for abutment by the spring 24. A cylindrical hub is provided on the disk 30 concentric with the socket 33, and a graphite impregnated washer 31 bears against the end of the hub and has a snug fit on the valve stem 3! to elfect a gas-tight seal. A metallic washer 38 holds the sealing washer in place under the action of a compression spring 39 surrounding the valve stem and abutting the head M of a plug which has its stem 4| pressed into a bore in the end of the stem 3|. Obviously the valve disk 30 can adjust itself relative to the stem, as indicated by the dotted line position shown in Fig. 2, and will therefore seat nicely on the valve seat Zl regardless of any slight discrepancy in the relationship of the stem 3i out of normality relative to the valve seat 2|. In other words, the valve always opens and closes in parallel relation to the seat. The washer 3ll furthermore always maintains a good seal regardless of slight inclination of the valve disk one way or another with respect to the valve stem.

The plug I! will, of course, be supplied with lubricant at the time the device is assembled, so as to insure smooth and easy turning of the plug with the dial l3. Now, some of this lubricant when expelled from the threads as the plug is entered would be apt to run over the valve seat 2| and interfere with accurate temperature regu-. lation. It is for that reason I provide the annular groove 42 in the plug l1 directly behind the 1 seat 2|, between the seat and the larger threaded body portion of the plug. Any oil flowing from the ends of the threads l8 will be caught in this annular groove and conducted to the lower side of the plug instead of being permitted to flow onto the valve seat surface. The seat is of triangular cross-section with the apex of the triangle forming a sharply defined valve seat surface for engagement by the annular rim portion of the valve disk 30. The groove 42 is located directly behind the triangular valve seat portion with one side of the groove formed bya portion of the base of the triangle and the other side of the groove formed by the end of the relatively larger body portion of the plug II,

It is believed the foregoing description conveys a good understanding of the objects and advantages of my invention. While I haveillustrated the improved valve construction as applied to a gas valve, it should; of course, be apparent that certain of the features of the invention are applicable to valves generally. The appended claims have been drawn with a view to covering all legitimate modifications and adaptations.

I claim:

1. The combination in a casing, of a poppet valve, a valve seat, a valve stem guide substantially normal to the plane of said seat, a Valve stem reciprocable therein and having an enlarged spheroidal shaped portion slidably received in a socket provided therefor in said valve, whereby said valve is supported on the stem and universally tiltable relative thereto so as to adjust itself into parallelism to the valve seat, means for yieldably holding the valve in engagement with said spheroidal shaped portion, the valve having an enlarged hollow hub portion coaxial with the socket therein and projecting from the opposite side of the valve, and sealing means acting between the valve stem and said hub portion yieldable so as to permit tilting of the valve relative to the stem without disrupting the seal.

2. A valve structure as set forth in claim 1, wherein said enlarged spheroidal shaped portion on the valve stem is of substantially hemispherical form, whereby to provide an annular shoulder on the side thereof opposite the spheroidal surface, the valve including spring means acting between said guide and said shoulder normally urging the valve stem in one direction to open the .valve.

3. In a valve, the combination of a body having a substantially horizontal internally threaded bore, an externally threaded valve seat member threaded in said bore terminating in a valve seat surface in a substantially vertical plane, the valve seat member being arranged to be axially adjusted by rotation thereof, and a poppet valve movable toward and away from said seat, said valve seat member having an annular external groove provided therein in a substantially vertical plane between the end of the threaded portion thereof and the valve seat surface on its end, said groove being wholly inside the external circumference of the threaded portion of said valve seat member and arranged to catch any foreign matter gathering on the outside of said valve seat member near the seating surface on its end, whereby to retain or conduct the same away and prevent contamination thereby of the seating surface. g 4. In a gas valve of the character described comprising a casing having a substantially horizontal bore provided therein, at least a portion of which is threaded, a valve seat bushing adjustably mounted in the threaded portion of said bore, the interengaging threads of the bore and bushing having lubricant therebetween to facilitate adjustment of said'bushing, and a projecting annular valve seat surface on one end of said bushing, the valve seat end of said bushing being of reduced diameter externally and said reduced portion having an annular lubricant conducting groove provided externally therein between the threaded periphery of the bushing and the valve seat surface arranged to intercept lubricant gathering on the seat end of the bushing and conduct it around the bushing to the bottom thereof so as to prevent contamination of the seat surface.

5. The combination in a, casing, of a poppet valve, a valve seat, a valve stem guide substanment marginally thereof on the fiat end of said hub portion, and spring means on said stem urging said washers into engagement with the hub portion whereby to permit tilting of the valve relative to the stem without disturbing the seal. 5

JOHN H. GRAYSON. 

